Saturday’s election of a Democrat in the Republican stronghold previously held by former Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) shows the potency of the children’s healthcare issue for future elections, Democrats say.
Democrat Bill Foster upset Republican Jim Oberweis Saturday to put Hastert’s old seat in Democratic hands until this Congress ends in January.
{mosads}Democratic leaders who fought with Republican leadership and the White House over the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) said they were vindicated by the victory.
“I think it was a significant factor,” said Rep. Chris Van Hollen (Md.), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “It’s part of a larger story about the Bush administration and their allies being out of touch with the financial squeeze most people feel.”
Republican campaign officials dispute the characterization, saying children’s health insurance was never a major issue in the race.
“While the issue of healthcare remains an important one, the SCHIP issue was never relevant in the special election, and any contrary claims are not backed up by the numbers,” National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Ken Spain said.
Spain added that holding the election on a Saturday reduced turnout and made the election even less predictable.
But Democrats pointed to five mailings Foster sent out that brought up SCHIP, along with a television advertisement featuring children and stressing the importance of affordable healthcare as proof that SCHIP played well in the district.
Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.), a centrist who has criticized party leaders for fighting SCHIP, says the Illinois race shows that the children’s healthcare issue can be effective, though he stressed there were many other issues at play in the race.
“It’s a very effective tool. It’s not a silver bullet,” Davis said.
Rep. Rahm Emanuel (Ill.), chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, said Oberweis’s support for replacing the current employer-based healthcare system with tax incentives that encourage people to buy their own insurance polices made him vulnerable on the issue of healthcare for children.
Democrats twice passed a proposal last year to extend the children’s health insurance program to 10 million children. Bush vetoed it twice, and despite intense negotiations, Democrats could not sway enough Republicans to override the veto. Van Hollen noted that the DCCC ran ads against a number of GOP holdouts on SCHIP, several of whom have since announced their retirement.
Democrats put off the issue until 2009, but noted they could still bring it back to the floor this year.
Foster, who was sworn in Tuesday, said he found on the campaign trail that supporting SCHIP at the very least never hurt him with voters in the Republican district.
“I would mention it in a five-minute speech, maybe not in a one-minute speech,” Foster said. “Those with insurance didn’t care that much, but for those at risk, it was a big deal.”